When asked how they did it (and I asked quite a few of them), their answer was invariably, “Just lucky, I guess.”

Now we know how they did it.

Until now that is.

One suspects that one of these “for hire” reviewers probably entered into some kind of blackmail scenario in which he would expose Locke, or else pay up. And perhaps Locke, having consulted with his lawyers, just decided to fess up about the whole mess. Or maybe this is just the conspiracy-minded novelist in me coming out.

Whatever the case, Locke’s credibility is now about as worthless as Facebook stock. In turn, Amazon is left with an interesting dilemma on their hands. What to do with phony reviews and even more important, what to do with cheating authors who “game the system” looking to cash in on trickery and not talent.

Writing is a business that takes talent for certain, but it also takes a mammoth amount of blood, sweat, tears, and self-sacrifice. In my case, it has even taken tremendous sacrifice on the part of my ex-wives and children, who even today are sometime a bit melancholy about the price we’ve all paid for “Vince’s fucking career.” It has been a struggle, but also a wonderful journey which is only now bearing the fruits of countless hours of labor.

I still recall all those years ago when I would wake up at dawn in order to write before work. I recall writing school and two years full-time intensive study and writing. I recall penning my first big novel in the library and the family so broke we were living on loans and whatever I could make from freelance writing. I recall the happiness we felt when my first big, six-figure contract came through and the near back-breaking sadness we experienced when the publisher was swallowed up by another in a corporate merger leaving me no choice but to start all over again. From scratch.

It cost me more time, more tears, more sweat, and even a second marriage, but I was determined to be a success at an art that takes hard work on top of talent. Now when I hear of swindlers and cheats and gamers, I just want to shake my head, pull in the sails and guide my life away from theirs. The bell tolls for all of us writers when one person decides to cheat. Especially an indie who, until now, was so revered for his efforts.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen with John Locke or anyone else who believes they can get ahead by cheating. Writing is a religion, an art, and a life passion, and it must be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity in this, the post-literate world. Anyone or anything that cheapens it should be discarded and forgotten about as quickly and expeditiously as possible.

Does it appear as though Mr. Rutherford is a bit of an opportunist and adept at identifying a need and exploiting it? Yes. But to be fair – isn’t that the description of any business who see a niche and fills it?

Is there something wrong with manipulating the hopes/dreams and pocketbooks of (sometimes desperate) authors? Yes. I think it is too soon to judge the new and improved offering – but confess I am suspicious given past behavior. That is the problem with a bad reputation, it is harder to change than it would have been to establish a good one from the beginning.

I would also say it is questionable to me that there is actually a need for paid reviews of the original business model. Any author with time and inclination – and of course – a decent book, can get the reviews in an organic fashion. As with writing the book, the process of marketing it requires the proper time and effort. Like many things in life, there are few short cuts that substitute for the hard work.

Look at the tongue bath the Times gave Stephen King’s 11/22/63. Rave reviews, interview, etc. Ya think that happened by accident? Or how about when a certain book suddenly gets prominent, positive reviews in nearly all the major review venues. Don’t try to convince me that the stars just happened to align the right way and all the book review editors all thought the book was great, not to mention how they also all decided to feature the same book simultaneously.

A comment following Salon.com’s article about Rutherford’s paid review scheme wrote:In such a situation, I can’t really blame anybody for using a pay-for-review scheme.

“John Muir (of the Volkswagen Idiot book and the publishing company he financed from that) told me he’d asked a New York Times editor why they never were willing to review any of the John Muir Publications books, and he was told that they wouldn’t review any publisher who didn’t buy advertising.”
Reviews are a form of advertising that doesn’t look like advertising. The big boys are pros at this and we’re hopeless amateurs. The playing field’s never been remotely level. It’s next to impossible to get your book reviewed in a major periodical if your publisher isn’t making a major push, and impossible if you’re self-published.

The only real problem I have with Locke is he wrote a ‘How-To’ book about how he sold a million ebooks and conveniently left out the part about buying reviews–not to mention actually buying copies of his own book.

There must be a wave of cognitive dissonance of tsunami proportions out there if no one caught on to the scam. Why didn’t anyone point out the emperor had no clothes concerning these bestsellers built on faux reviews?

This is inaccurate. On my blog, the description of my new service clearly states that I will promote an author’s book to media and reviewers in addition to blogging and social media.